Those who have been watching with keen interest the political activities of Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, the current Minister of State, FCT, from Oyo, the pacesetter state, have continued to heave a sigh of relief that the Minister that Oyo State produced is living up to expectations. The gladiators in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are particularly excited that, with the way the Minister is coalescing efforts to drag out the party from the quicksand in which it is currently mired, the party is bound to bounce back stronger in no time.

Like an English essayist, W. Hazzlit, said, a statesman is never less alone than when alone. Oloye Akinjide is never alone. When she’s not thinking of how to better the lot of her people in Oyo State, her mind is preoccupied with how the satellite towns within FCT will have accelerated development. It bears excerpting a few words from her first comment on what people should expect from her as a minister – “I have a dual focus as a minister; one is to make Nigeria one of the top 20 countries in the world, by giving vent to the Transformation Agenda of the President, using the FCT as a model. The other one is to create a platform for stability of PDP in Oyo State to reclaim its mandate.”

The unprecedented crowd that usually throng the family house of the Akinjides’ to welcome the minister, whenever she is in Ibadan, is a good pointer to the peoples’ undiluted love for Oloye. In her own way of showing appreciation to the effusively elated visitors, she would fete all. Thereafter, they would form a seemingly endless queue to collect fares back home. And people are now literally ina state of expectaton, as they are looking forward to counting days to when next Oloye would come to Ibadan to see them.    

It’s equally exhilarating that hundreds of political adherents who benefitted recently from Akinjide’s hajj and Jerusalem slots, have now redoubled efforts in working passionately for the party, through which they secured their tickets to the holy lands. All the 33 local government areas in Oyo State produced one or more candidates that enjoyed this uncommon gesture of the Minister.

In another development, the empowerment programme that kicked off from Oloye Akinjide’s local government in Ona-Ara is now fast spreading into other local governments.  This and her sustained efforts in generating employment for jobless youths in the state within a short spate of time, have been described as the beginning of a new dawn. Each passing day, the youth in the state are now full of high hopes that sooner than later, their own fortunes will be turned round by the amiable minister.

A bridge builder that she is, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide is leaving no stone unturned, in uniting warring factions within the PDP in Oyo State.

The olive oil she’s waving at those who have left the party with annoyance, to come back to their political root is currently yielding result with thousands of defectors from ACN, ANPP and other parties coming back to the PDP to re-register as members.

Little wonder then that thousands of PDP faithful in Oyo State are asking with great excitement; what is the ambition of Oloye Akinjide towards 2015? But strange enough, before she could venture an answer to this poser, opinions are already formed that she’s eyeing the governorship position in 2015.

When confronted recently with this mind boggling question circulating albeit in a hushed tone by some politicians, that she’s planning to win the state back to PDP to pave the way for her to become the next governor, the minister was quick to state unequivocally that, “I don’t have any agenda to vie for Governorship seat in 2015, my only agenda, if it can be called one, is to build a strong and united PDP and also ensure that in my little way I put smiles on the sunken faces of my people who are yet to enjoy dividends of democracy.”

Isiaka Kehinde,
Media Assistant to the Minister of State, FCT.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment